//------------------------------// // Chapter Fifteen // Story: Dreams and Disasters // by Quillery //------------------------------// Dreams and Disasters by Quillery Chapter Fifteen Tip of the Iceberg Dash awoke to a bright light. She slowly opened her eyes and was treated to the sun peeking through the window. A breeze wafted through it and her nose twitched as she breathed the fresh air. Ugh, morning already? She yawned and smacked her lips as she wriggled under the sheets to keep warm. The rays of sunlight on her face tickled with heat, but it paled in comparison to the heat pressed against her back. She blinked her eyes sleepily and turned her head. Her eyes widened as she saw Twilight snuggled up against her. Her hoof was draped over Dash’s side and held in her own hoof. She began to tug it away when she noticed that she wasn’t the only one holding tightly. Dash’s face blazed red and she gulped loudly. Okay. Easy, Dash. Not too fast, wouldn’t want to wake— She tugged again and tried to slide out of Twilight’s grasp when Twilight started mumbling. Dash’s heart began to race as she started moving in jerking motions to break free of Twilight’s hold before— “Good morning, Dash.” Dash felt her eye twitching as she watched Twilight yawn loudly and flutter her eyes open. Twilight smiled softly. “Did you sleep well?” “Uh…” Dash said. “Y-yeah, I guess so.” She swallowed again. “Uh… Twi?” “Yes?” “Why are you hugging me?” Twilight’s smile widened. “I thought this was what you wanted?” Dash’s mind spun in circles. “I… I….” Twilight frowned. “Or was I misreading things? I can move back to my side of the bed if you want.” “No!” Dash shouted. “S-stay… please.” Twilight nodded and shifted closer to Dash. “If you say so,” she said coyly. Twilight’s grip around Dash tightened, and she sighed slowly as it did. “Is there something wrong, Dash?” Dash turned back to Twilight. “You have no idea how much I‘ve been struggling with this. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, Twi, and how much I still want to.” “Well, tell me now, then.” She sighed again. “It won’t make a difference.” Twilight tilted her head. “Why?” Dash turned away. “Because this isn’t real.” “What do you mean? Of course it’s real. It feels real, doesn’t it?” Dash shrugged away from Twilight and rolled over. “It sure does. My dreams have been pretty good at doing that lately.” Twilight shook her head. “What makes you think this is a dream? Why are you being so hard on yourself instead of enjoying it?” “Because my head doesn’t hurt. I know how much I drank last night, and I don’t even feel sore. And not to mention how hungover you should be.” Twilight laughed. “Maybe I’m better at recovering than I look.” Dash frowned. “Not a chance, Twi, but that’s not the only thing wrong.” “Oh?” “It’s too easy. I haven’t been very good at this so far, but you haven’t noticed a single thing. There’s no way you could just spontaneously notice.” “Maybe I was waiting for the right moment just like you.” “I wish that were true. But it isn’t, because we didn’t fall asleep in my room either.” She stretched out her hoof and indicated the room. Deep blue swirls of blue and white painted the ceiling and walls, lined with pristinely cut cloud columns. Dash’s bedside cabinets sat beside the bed, one stacked with Daring Do books, and the other had a framed picture of herself and her friends. Twilight sighed. “I guess you got me, Dash.” Dash sighed too and reached a hoof to Twilight’s cheek. “You have no idea how much I want to say it to you, Twi, to have you lying in this bed with me for real…” “So why don’t you?” “I’m scared, ok!?” she snapped. She rolled away from Twilight and stared at the wall. “I don’t want to weird you out, or scare you away.” She shuddered. “I couldn’t handle you leaving me.” “And why do you assume that’s what will happen?” “Because I don’t deserve you, so it’s the only outcome.” Dash felt Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “You think too little of yourself, Rainbow Dash. You aren’t going to know until you ask. And the Rainbow Dash I know wouldn’t be afraid of anything.” Dash slumped her head against the pillow. “I just don’t know what to do…” “You’ve been given some pretty good advice so far. I’m sure you can think of something.” Dash turned back. She stared into Twilight’s eyes for a long, silent while, then she reached out and pulled Twilight and herself together. Twilight let out a startled noise as Dash wrapped her hooves tightly around her. “Just let me enjoy this for as long as I can, before the dream ends. I just need to know what this feels like, even if it isn’t real.” Twilight patted Dash on the back. “Of course, Dash. Take as long as you want. I can be patient.” Dash squeezed as hard as she could. She let out a long, pained sigh when she felt Twilight squish easier than she should have. Her eyes opened and revealed that her hooves were wrapped tightly around her pillow. She was back in her hotel room, alone in the bed. She scanned the room. The sheets next to her were scattered on the bed and over the floor of the other side of the room. Her eyes fell on the bathroom door, when she heard a splashing noise from beyond it. She rubbed her pounding head as the splashing noise continued. She struggled to rise from the bed and went over to the door and placed her ear to it. There was silence on the other side. She lifted a hoof and knocked. There was a muffled response on the other side, followed by a sudden retching sound. Painful groans echoed from the bathroom, punctuated by quiet whimpering. “Twi? Are you ok?” There was no word for the mess of language and mumbles that drifted through the door. Dash rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock. “’cause I hate to break up your first hangover, but our train leaves in an hour.” ***** Reading on a train had become a regular pastime for Dash nowadays. If she had to be stuck in a small compartment for several hours, unable to fly or stretch her wings in any useful way, the least she could do is pull from her mountain of books and occupy herself for a few hours. That is, she would be if not for the constant complaints from the pony sitting across from her that arose with every single bump of the train. A subdued groan of pain drifted to Dash’s ear, and once again she found herself glancing over to examine her wallowing friend. Twilight was curled up in her seat, an open book draped over her head. Her tail was wrapped around her body tightly, and her legs were drawn up around herself just as much. Her forelegs in particular were pressed against her ears. Her body quivered with each rock of the train, followed by another moan of pain. “Oww,” she mumbled. “Make it stop…” Dash smirked. “Make what stop, Twi?” “The light… Make the light stop. It makes everything hurt.” “‘fraid I can’t do that, Twi. I’m pretty sure Celestia would be pretty upset if I stopped the light.” “Don’t care… I said so.” “Oh, okay. If you said so.” Twilight recoiled again. “Not so loud.” Dash chuckled and sat up, closing her book. “Well, Twi. You did want to have fun last night. I warned you what would happen, but you insisted. Not much else you can do but tough it out.” Twilight grumbled under her book-hat. “Hate you… Why didn’t you warn me this would happen?” “I didn’t know only three drinks would wipe you out like that. I had almost three times as much and I feel fine.” “Not fair… There must be something you can do to make this stop…” Dash scratched her chin. “Well… Let me think.” Dash’s eyes fell on a small rope dangling by the door. It had a tasseled end and swung listlessly in the motions of the train. A thought crossed her mind, and she reached for it and tugged it down. A small bell sound rang out, and there was nothing for a while, aside from further groaning from Twilight. Almost a minute later, there was a soft knock on the door. The rapping noise caused Twilight to groan again. Dash rolled her eyes, and said “Come in.” The door slid open, revealing a stewardess. She poked her head in with a smile. “Bonjour,” she said. “Uh, hey,” Dash said. “Do you speak Equestrian?” The stewardess nodded. “Of course, madam. What can I help you with?” Dash gestured at Twilight. “Well, my friend had a little too much to drink last night, and is paying for it now. I was wondering if you served hot food on this train.” The stewardess glanced at Twilight. She squinted a moment at her, and her eyes widened. “Ah, I see.” She turned back to Dash. “Yes, we do have a small kitchen on the train. Is there something you have in mind?” “Whatever you have that is the greasiest thing you can make. The greasier, the better. And some water too.” “Ehm, I believe we have simple hayfries, but I’m sure our cooks can come up with something.” Dash nodded. “Thanks.” The stewardess bowed her head and left, shutting the door beside her slowly. Twilight peeked her head from underneath the book-hat. “Greasy food? How is that supposed to help?” Dash shrugged. “I don’t know the science behind it. All I know is a good way to help a hangover is to stuff yourself with greasy food and water. It works for me, so hopefully it works for you.” “Blugh… It better. We’re going to be in Germane in a few hours, and I’d rather not have to have this book on my head when we meet the Chancellors.” “Chancellors? Are they like the Duke and Duchess?” Twilight shook her hoof. “Nnng, no, not really. Germane is a country divided between the former Gryphon Empire and the remnants of Commander Hurricane’s expeditionary forces.” “So… they share the land?” The book-hat nodded. “More or less. The terrain of Germane is heavily mountainous. Jagged peaks and rocky cliffs, most of the cities are built into the sides of the mountains. Spurrlin itself is a giant aerie between the two largest peaks of the region, Mt. Gale and Mt. Taloncrest.” “What about the wars you keep mentioning? What exactly happened?” The book-hat slid from Twilight’s head, and Dash’s eyes went wide. Twilight’s mane hung from her head, frayed, tangled and ragged. Thick, black circles traced around her eyes, lined with trenches of wrinkles. Red streaks spiderwebbed through her eyes, and Twilight could barely keep her upper eyelids in check. The book she had worn had landed in front of her, and her hooves jerked as she brought it to the pages and flipped them over. Dash held a hoof to her mouth to keep herself from breaking out in laughter at Twilight’s dishevelled state, while she tugged at the pages of her book manually. “Well,” Twilight mumbled. “The Gryphon Rebellion was a territorial dispute between the native gryphons and encroaching pegasi. They tolerated each other at first, but as pegasi started to colonize and expand, gryphon leaders were worried that ponies were trying to steal their land.” “Huh. Gryphons are pretty easy to rile up, I guess,” Dash said. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Gilda?” “Heh, you know it. You thought she was cranky when she visited Ponyville? She was way worse in the Junior Speedsters. Getting her up for class was only the half of it.” Twilight tried to giggle, but as the laugh escaped her lips, she winced in pain and pressed her hooves back to her temples, making small circular motions. “M—maybe the history lesson can wait a bit,” she whispered. “When my head doesn’t feel like a stampede’s been through it.” Dash smiled. “Fair enough.” At that moment, the door slid open again, and a trolley wheeled into the room with the stewardess behind it. On top of it was a large pitcher of water with shaved ice and some accompanying glasses, and two plates of still sizzling hayfries. They had a wet glisten to them in the sunlight peeking through the window, and they smelled heavily of oil and salt. “Your hayfries and water,” the stewardess said. She pulled a small capsule from her pocket and laid it on the trolley with the water. “And some aspirin, for your—” Twilight’s ear twitched, and she sprang up from her seat, grasping for the capsule with her hooves. She snatched it and tried to open it. She frowned in frustration as she fumbled with the cap, finally resolving to remove it with her teeth. The lid popped off and she spat it away, tipping the container back. Two white pills dropped from inside into her mouth. Twilight immediately reached for the pitcher and tipped it back to her lips. Dribbles of water splashed out of her mouth a she chugged, and slammed the pitcher down on the trolley when she was done. Her eyes twitched a moment, before her hooves shot up to her head again. She fell onto her back and rolled around on her seat, groaning even louder than before. Dash glanced back at the pitcher. The layer of ice that once floated in the pitcher was gone. “Snrk!” Dash snorted. “Did you just get a brain freeze, Twi?” Twilight rolled her gaze to Dash, her eyes joyless and cold. She turned away and shielded her eyes with her foreleg. “Celestia, please kill me….” Dash snatched a fry from the cart and popped it into her mouth. She chewed the crunchy food as loudly as she could, thanked the stewardess and reclined again. She took out her book, found her previous place, and with a smirk said “Told you.”